Fallout: Equestria - War Does Change

by tom117z

40 - Technology

Chapter Forty: Technology

“There’s no way in hell I’m letting this ‘local’ walk out with anything!”

---

So, how the hell do I reach the mainframe from here?

Ugh, why can’t my map marker show that one!?

…

You know, I had been kinda hoping that just the act of thinking about it would cause the thing to do something like give me a marker. You know, in the normal way it magically seems to do that. But no, this time it didn’t. I will try not to take that personally, PipBuck. The map function still wasn’t exactly helpful either. The map of Equestria not exactly showing anything closer to the ground, and the local map looking more like a confusing jumbled mess over a convenient guide. That was one element not very well designed for this model, I will say.

Still, I at least know the general area in this place it’s supposed to be. Now I just had to reach there, starting off by finding a way two floors down from my current position.

At least I wouldn’t have another Sentry Bot pop out to say hi.

Moving back out and past the two large office spaces, I returned to the corridor that would lead back to the staircase where I’d found my way up. Unfortunately, I doubted the other doors on said staircase had unblocked themselves in the last few minutes, so I moved to try the other door instead. It opened up to reveal a second staircase leading downwards, the way looking to be clear of any blockages or debris.

I moved down to the next floor, the doorway already partially open with the skeleton of a pony in a lab coat preventing it from fully shutting. Peering through the doorway, I could see a dark corridor beyond that seemed to branch off in yet more directions, along with a few other doors that seemed to be marked as laboratories.

I left that alone for the moment.

Moving down to the next floor, I found the next door to be sealed up tight, not unlike its counterpart on the other staircase. And then, just by peering over the railings towards the floor below, I could see a faint glow coming from the bottom floor. A further look revealed a tipped over cart that had been transporting several decayed barrels, each of them having had their glowing rainbow contents spilt out all over the floor. Another skeleton was half-submerged in the mix, though it seemed… warped and malformed.

Just being near the stuff was already making my PipBuck’s Geiger Counter click away dangerously, so it was probably best I didn’t try to walk through it. Instead, I backed the fuck off and headed back up one floor to the partially open door.

Opening it up all the way, and gently moving the corpse to one side, I started to make my way back through the corridor in an attempt to find another way down. Or a way into the mainframe from here at least; Roll In had said we were to take another set of stairs up from the previous floor, right?

I guess I’ll figure it out one way or another.

I ignored the passages leading left, figuring that would just lead me back out onto the atrium. At least for the moment, it might be a good place to retrace my steps if I needed to.

Moving further in, I started looking from lab to lab in an attempt to find a way to the computer core. There had to be a passage somewhere around here…

A red bar appeared from one of the rooms.

Cautiously, I glanced towards the lab where my E.F.S. was picking up the entity. The windows were covered from the inside with blinds, so I couldn’t see whatever it was poking around inside.

I could just leave it, but…

Not wanting to leave something potentially dangerous to us roaming around the building, I drew my pistol and made my way towards the door. Hitting the button to open it, it slid open to reveal what looked to be a ransacked science lab that held a distinctly green glow.

The feral ghoul grunted, looking up at me.

I shot a single bullet through its brain.

The ghoul dropped, the red bar blinking with no others appearing to take its place. Strange how the robots had left it be for all this time, but maybe they’d never realised it was there. Or maybe they didn’t realise it was a ghoul rather than a scientist, seeing as it was wearing a tattered lab coat like the other bodies I’d seen.

Still, I didn’t need to be a scientist myself to figure out what turned him. The lab contained another overturned barrel, this one spilling out green balefire waste that made my PipBuck click again, though to a lesser degree than the rainbow gunk on the staircase.

Whatever experiments they’d been running in here, it hadn’t ended well for them.

Moving back out into the corridor, I could see the end branching off again in two differing directions. They were marked as to leading to yet more science labs, with no indication that following them would get me to the mainframe.

I guess the atrium was my best bet after all.

Moving back through the building, I went from corridor to corridor while trying to keep on track towards the exit. I had a vague sense of where it should be, I just had to make sure I didn’t absentmindedly make a wrong turn somewhere. Moon Blossom would take the piss out of me for hours if I did.

But then, just as I came across a central corridor leading towards a singular door, with two familiar inactive elevators at my back, green bars suddenly appeared in my vision.

And so too did muffled voices.

I opened the door, stepping out onto one of the upper floors of the atrium as a Mr Gutsy idly passed by without giving me so much as a second thought. Looking over the balcony to the scattered tables of the break area below, I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of my friends. They… also seemed to be in a bit of an argument with the Steel Rangers, particularly Moon Blossom and Xena.

“You cannot be serious,” Xena chided. “The least you could do is spare a single Ranger!”

“I’m sorry,” McRoar apologised. “But after what happened and seeing that we haven’t heard from him since the incident, your friend is most likely deceased. Now, we need to get in contact with our chapter and focus on securing this site. As I said, you’re free to take what you’re owed, but then you have to leave.”

“Oh, come the fuck on, you bucket heads!” Moon Blossom protested, getting right up into an unflinching McRoar’s face even as the others aimed their weapon in warning at her. “Grow some balls, you canned cunts! Or do you fucking cut them off as part of your weird technology cult? Do you? Because that would actually be hilarious!”

“Maybe we should just calm down, this isn’t getting us anywhere,” Roll In deadpanned. “Your arguing is just wasting all of our time.”

“Because Scrap Heap may be alive and hurt!” Xena stressed.

“I walked it off,” I joked as I finished descending down the stairs towards them, all eyes turning towards me. “I got the code, by the way.”

And then I was knocked on my ass by zebra hugs.

“Where have you been!?” Xena shouted as she very tightly glomped me! “Fool! Don’t do that! Ever!”

“Breathing…” I gasped out, I had no idea where she was suddenly finding this Yao Gui strength!

“Ah,” she said, lessening her grip before we both got up to our hooves. She gave an awkward cough. “But of course, we grew concerned.”

“Did you now?” I asked in amusement, smirking her way as she blushed. I think Xena had been worrying enough for the lot of them, somehow. “I’m fine, don’t worry. The stupid robot clobbered me into the elevator shaft and broke it. I don’t know how long I was out, exactly, but a healing potion fixed me right up.”

“A healing potion?” Altrix asked worriedly, stepping forward towards me. “Are you sure you didn’t break anything from the fall?”

“Uh… I was sure.” I mean, I hadn’t been. But I won’t mention the gamble, I don’t need to give the good doctor an aneurysm.

Altrix eyed me suspiciously. “Well, okay. But when we get back to the hive, I’m giving you all full health check-ups.”

Oh. Wonderful.

“So, what did I miss?” I asked the group.

“Things grew hectic after we got separated,” Cobalt explained. “Moon Blossom managed to damage the Sentry Bot’s optics in her… usual ways. The Steel Rangers finished the job, but we all had to move back quick as the other robots tried rushing us.”

“We were very nearly overwhelmed in that corridor,” Roll In supplemented. “Fortunately, most of them were concentrated behind us, leaving the run ahead clear.”

“Aside from the odd Protectapony, but the Steel Rangers stepped on them,” Cobalt added.

I guess it was easier, considering those ones didn’t have pulse weapons.

“What then?”

“We reached the objective and formed a defensive line as Scribe Roll In worked with your friend to disable the security net. It was thankfully textbook, and they achieved it without casualties.”

“Though they had to spend even more time freeing up another jackass who failed to duck,” Moon Blossom saw fit to comment, throwing a taunting look at one of the knights.

“From there we regrouped here, we need to get in contact with the other Steel Rangers to report,” the Scribe concluded. “And your friends were… adamant about us delaying that so we could look for you.”

“And they refused,” Xena said with a glare.

“And yet it appears to be unnecessary now,” Roll In replied unapologetically. “But I must credit you, the competence you all displayed, even the pegasus, was refreshing.”

“You said you found the code?” Cobalt then asked, bringing us back to the whole reason we came to this death trap.”

“Right.” I tapped my PipBuck. “It’s all there, I got it from the office just like we were told. I also found a log from Twilight herself you might be interested in, Cobalt.”

Predictably, that got his interest. “Go on.”

“Mostly her lamenting about Chrysalis and the war. She was missing somebody named ‘Spike’. It all sounded… rather tragic, actually. I’ll let you listen in later.”

He frowned. “Spike? He was Twilight’s draconic assistant before and during the war. Our records lose track of him towards the end of the conflict.”

Well, he was supposedly asleep. I guess dragons must sleep for a really long time or something.

“So, you have everything we agreed upon,” McRoar noted, before tilting his head a little. “Though, what is that on your back?”

Oh, right. I drew Venomous, showing it to the group.

“A magical energy rifle?” Roll In questioned, trotting forwards and examining the weapon. “Hm, looks like a model the Enclave would favour. Bolts overs beams, definitely pegasus inclined. Though it appears to have been modified.”

“It uses changeling magic,” I noted, getting Altrix’s attention. “Altrix’s people. I’m taking it as part of the whole ‘our share of the technology’ bargain. The rest of this place is yours.”

“I see,” the Scribe said with a hum. “Shame, I would have liked to study it.”

“A deal is a deal, Roll In,” the Star Paladin stated. “They have their spoils, now it’s time for them to leave.”

“Sir,” one of the Knights protested. “Again, I’m not comfortable letting savages leave with such valuable technology.”

Savages?

“You have your orders, Knight!” McRoar barked. “You’re out of line.”

“No, sir. You’re out of line!”

“Excuse me, soldier!?”

Uh oh.

Xena and I took a step back towards the rest of our friends, regrouping as the Steel Rangers suddenly found themselves confronting one another. The air had suddenly because a lot tenser, though their bars remained green for the time being…

“You would let these savages leave here with that weapon, along with computer data, that is rightfully ours,” the Knight growled, getting grumbles of agreement from a couple of the others. “Our order is meant to take all technology away from them, we are the only ones fit to wield it!”

“Actually, our order was created to fight for Equestria during the war, and then repurposed to gather technology to use in protecting the survivors of that war,” Scribe Roll In recited factually. “We may be all that’s left of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, but our overall mission never actually changed.”

“There are plenty who would disagree with you, Scribe,” the Knight dismissed. “This isn’t old Equestria, who cares about it anymore? What matters is our brothers and sisters in the Steel Rangers, nothing else.”

“Stand down, Knight,” the Star Paladin said warningly. “You’re sounding close to an Enclave pegasus.”

“Maybe they have the right idea,” he contested. “If the Elders were smart, they’d have us ransack every so-called settlement in the Equestrian Wasteland and confiscate everything of value.”

“Now he’s just sounding like a raider,” Roll In noted in a deadpan.

“Yes, he is,” the Star Paladin agreed. “Knight, you’re relieved.”

“No sir, I’m afraid you are.”

“Hold on,” another Steel Ranger said, the mare taking her helmet off to reveal a cream coat and short light brown mane. She looked young. “I get that we’re having a slight conflict of ideologies here, but we’re all Steel Rangers. We shouldn’t be fighting amongst ourselves like this.”

“A reckoning is coming, Knight,” the mutineer declared. “One day, ponies like McRoar and Steelhooves aren’t going to be around no more. They’re an old breed, unable to do what needs to be done to ensure our survival and supremacy. I suggest you pick a side.”

She scoffed. “This is ridiculous.”

“I’d listen to her, Knight,” McRoar said in a dangerous tone. “One last chance, stand down.”

The renegade was silent a moment before he then glanced at the mare. “So, you’re still supporting the Star Paladin?”

“He’s our commanding officer,” the Steel Ranger confirmed. “We can sort this all out back at base. Just calm down.”

“Oh, I’m perfectly calm, Knight.”

Then he shot her.

A single red beam flew through the mare’s uncovered head as a bloody hole was burned directly through her skull, the Steel Ranger not even having a chance to look surprised before she dropped and three of their bars turned red!

“Traitor!” McRoar bellowed as chaos erupted, the Star Paladin firing at the three mutineers as they all moved back to take cover!

I raised my new rifle as Roll In pulled a small box-like pistol from within her robes and starting firing. Xena started drawing her rifle with Cobalt lighting his horn, Altrix staying back in shock as Moon Blossom gave an enraged growl before taking to the air with her knife drawn.

I aimed my rifle at the instigator, firing a single green bolt of changeling magic at the power armoured figure. The magic splashed against his armour, stumbling the pony as it scorched the front plating.

Simultaneous, Xena let off a shot that pinged off against another Rangers’ power armour, Cobalt placing a temporary shield over Roll In and McRoar as they tipped another table to use as some kind of cover.

Moon Blossom rushed the third Steel Ranger from overhead, bearing down on him as her knife glared. And yet, my heart skipped a beat as he brought his rifles to bear, firing two red beams that hit the pegasus directly and sent her careening to the ground.

“No!” Altrix screamed, her wings buzzing as she shot forwards and dragged Moon Blossom safety while I fired two more green bolts at that Ranger to cover them.

And then I looked back at the first.

He was still standing, but I could hear faint gurgling between the gunfire from behind his helmet, a hissing sound permeating the air as the green magic continued to burn through the power armour all the way to his chest.

Then his red bar blinked out, the magical acid having burned all the way into his heart.

I love this gun!

Suddenly feeling a million times more confident against power armour, noting how much this would help against Kronos and his lackies, I ducked behind another table as the beams continued to fly. Even if the original mutineer was down, they weren’t giving up without a fight!

“Can you provide us with a shield?” McRoar asked Cobalt.

He shook his head. “After everything, I’m pretty spent.”

“I’m not sure mine will hold for as long as you’d like without assistance,” Roll In concurred, levitating her pistol over the table and firing blindly at the two Steel Rangers.

McRoar growled, popping up and firing a volley of red beams at one of them. “Outcasts! The both of you!”

He received fire in kind, ducking back down after taking several hits to his now smoking armour.

“Gah, we need to push at once. I imagine that I can probably take one of them, but extended fire from both will burn through my T-45’s plating.”

“How’s Moon Blossom?” I asked over at the nearby Altrix.

“I’m checking to see if they burned a hole,” she said as she opened up her leather jacket. “She’s unconscious but breathing!”

Hopefully, it was nothing serious and a healing potion would fix her right up. But if it was, I knew Altrix had it handled.

A piece of the table as blown away, our cover increasingly damaged under the unending barrage. I took a quick peek and firing at one of the Steel Rangers, but the bolts went wide and ate into the wall. Like the note had said, it wasn’t quite as accurate as beam weapons!

“Alright, McRoar can handle the one on the left,” I stated as I ducked back into cover. “We can take the one on the right. I just need a good shot and this thing will burn clean through.”

“Agreed,” the Star Paladin declared. “Roll In, cover them. Ad Victoriam!”

And with that, he charged over our makeshift barricade and stampeded right into one of the renegades.

Well, no time like the present!

Cobalt snatched up one of the rifles from a deceased Ranger, likely saving on his depleted magic, and started to return fire at the second Ranger before he could start to assist his fellow traitor. Roll In and Xena followed suit, magic and bullets alike pinging off of his armour and causing the pony to duck for cover.

With both occupied, now was my chance!

I rushed from our cover, running forward towards where the Steel Ranger was hunkered down and leaping over the barricade! I landed behind him, the Ranger insidiously whipping around to try and shoot me.

If he was using his own version of S.A.T.S., I beat him to it.

I let my spell-guided bolts fly, striking the Steel Ranger multiple times as the magical acid started to eat into his armour. I heard a strangled scream from inside as he fell to the ground, writhing in pain for several moments. Then, we went still.

I turned towards McRoar, where the Star Paladin had lifted a panicked pony into the air and chucked him against a nearby wall. He approached the other Steel Ranger, his armour smoking and dotted with burns, using his armour hooves to smash down onto his former teammate again and again until something gave way.

Then, with the Steel Ranger barely moving, he opened up with his rifle at the caved point of his armour. The red bar blinked out not a moment later.

“So much for insurrection,” Roll In dryly stated, moving out into the open and staring down at the initial mutineer’s corpse. “I don’t know what you’re going to tell the Elder, Star Paladin.”

“I think the truth would suffice,” Xena muttered, putting away her sniper rifle.

“No, it won’t,” McRoar admitted. “Sadly, our Elder is among those who may very well share the Knight’s extremist views. He was right about one thing, there is a reckoning coming. Tensions have been rising for a while between those who believe in Applejack’s original vision and those who think we should isolate ourselves further. One day, it’s going to burst like it did here, but on a bigger scale.”

“So, what will you do?” Cobalt asked him.

“Well, I suppose these soldiers were casualties in a costly operation to take the facility. The Elder will accept that, all he’ll care about is the fact that we got it.”

“We’ll be fine,” Roll In agreed. “And ready.”

“Moon Blossom?” I asked aloud, heading back to where she and Altrix were holed up.

Thankfully, when I got there she was already up and awake, though looking rather peeved at, well… everything.

“I hate being shot,” she was muttering to Altrix. “I keep being shot. A lot. Why can’t they just let me crush them in peace?”

“It’s over now, we’re all okay,” Altrix cooed.

“Ugggggh.”

“Everything alright over here?” I asked the two of them.

“The magic didn’t breach her jacket, she simply hit her head when she reached the floor,” Altrix explained in relief. “No concussion as far as I can tell, just a cute little bump.”

“Nothing about me is cute,” Moon Blossom denied with a pout.

“If you say so,” Altrix said with a giggle and a pat onto the former raider’s mane.

You always have to love the Doc’s enthusiasm. So infectious.

“Welp, I’m just about ready to go,” the pegasus then declared, hopping up to her hooves and refusing Altrix’s help when she wobbled unsteadily. “This place sucks. Let’s scram.”

We moved back towards the others, Scribe Roll In taking hold of the murdered mare’s dog tags with her magic and pulling them away.

“I’ll make sure that the Knight gets a posthumous commendation and promotion to Paladin,” the Scribe decided.

“For bravery and loyalty to the cause in the face of extreme adversity, giving her life so that others might live,” McRoar agreed, before looking towards the other bodies with what I would imagine to be disgust. “While the others failed to comply with orders and suffered the result.”

Well, not ‘technically’ a lie. But the half-truth was probably safer than the full truth, if the Steel Rangers really are that divided.

“I’ll prepare the transmission,” Roll In said, extracting her PipBuck before looking towards us. “You should follow Moon Blossom’s advice and get moving. We cannot guarantee your safety when our reinforcements arrive to secure the building.”

“Just be sure to use the technology for the benefit of the innocent rather than for one’s self,” Xena advised, looking between the two Steel Rangers critically. “Don’t let the fools dictate your actions. It is up to you to do good where you can.”

“I am aware of my responsibilities, civilian,” McRoar shot back. “But yes, we will do our best. And if this reckoning comes, rest assured that the true Steel Rangers will do their duty and honour our oaths to Ministry Mare Applejack, just as we have always done.”

You know what? I believed him. And not just because of what I’d seen him do today, but the way he spoke of Applejack… Well, it reminded me of the way Cobalt spoke of Twilight Sparkle.

She was his idol.

“Come on guys, let’s get out of here,” I said to the others, leading the way out of the atrium and through the building, leaving Scribe Roll In and Star Paladin McRoar behind.

Once we stepped back out into the light of day, we could finally breathe out a sigh of relief.

“Well, that was an adventure,” Moon Blossom commented. “And while we’re here… I told you so, Scrap.”

“Yes, you told me so,” I deadpanned back. “Though not all of them turned on us, so you weren’t completely on the mark.”

“Eh, details,” she dismissed with the wave of a hoof. “What now, Boss?”

“We need to get back to the hive, I think.” It would be a good few hours ride from here to Stable 84 in the Sky Bandit. And looking up, it wouldn’t be so long until it was dark again here. Going back to the hive first was our safest bet, we needed to be sure we were ready for Kronos. “We can probably make it past Crossroads and through much of the city before dark, and then bunker down somewhere for the night.”

“Can’t we just stay in the town again?” Altrix asked.

Tempting, but… “We need to make good time. We can manage without it.”

She looked disappointed, but the changeling didn’t contest my point.

Still, we were doing pretty good in terms of supplies. Food. Water. Ammo. Healing supplies. There wasn’t anything we were desperately low on at the moment, so making it back to the skywagon wasn’t going to be too much of an issue. We could top off on everything back at Stable 84 and Altrix could do those medical exams she was itching to do. As much as I was dreading the inevitable prodding and poking, it probably wasn’t a bad idea to see if any of us had a bit of lead lodged inside our fleshy bits somewhere…

That, and I’m sure Insidiis will be eager to send her changelings to help deal with the threat to her hive now that we can get into the place. Maybe the Changeling Queen will even tag along herself. Who wouldn’t want the changeling equivalent of a true Celestia-level alicorn tagging along?

I must admit, I felt a strange hole in my stomach as I looked off down the shattered Vanhoover street and thought of the facility beneath Haven. Our last stop. It almost felt like it was all coming to an end, everything that has started thirty-three days ago when Derpy had given me Chrysalis’ lost PipBuck. How much things had changed in just over a month…

One of those changes trotted up beside me, Xena giving me a concerned look. I gave her a quick affectionate nuzzle on the cheek just to let her know that I was okay.

Then we started to walk.

Straight for the finish line.

---

Footnote: Max Level

Comments

[mustangdrew4]

I figured they would come to blows over their ideology. Nice to see some precursors to the Applejack rangers. I also can't help but get some kind of gut instinct that somethings going to happen before they make it back to stable 84. Maybe I'm just over thinking things.

[PinkDragonJr]

Soon as i saw that chapter quote i knew we were getting an operation achorage ending.

[Revluc_The_Pony]

9466271
Possibly.